Hundreds of Sex Offenders or Predators Living among Us: Myths and Realities about Sex Offenders

• In Event: 477 - Section on Crime, Law, and Deviance Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 13. Discussions Regarding Sexual Violence

Abstract

This paper explores how sex offender laws, and registries in particular, fail to increase public safety, and harm children and adults by making us fearful and neurotic. Sex offender registries have been increasing throughout the U.S. since they were first enacted in 1994, and today there are over 700,000 individuals on sex offender registries. In 2003, the Supreme Court upheld the right to maintain public registries and allows states to post the names, photographs and addresses of sex offenders online. Sex offenders possess a peculiar place in the American imagination, and as well as the American criminal justice system. No group of offenders is as vilified or reviled or subject to as many post-punishment restrictions. The idea behind sex offender laws is that strictly monitoring, often for life, anyone with a conviction for a sex offense will keep children safe. Most (66%) sex offenses involve victims who are minors, so there is a rationale behind the view that sex offender laws are justified because of child safety concerns. The main problem with the logic of sex offender laws is that the vast majority (over 85%) cases of sexual assault involve a family member or acquaintance of the victim, and this number is even higher (93%) when the victim is a child. Thus, public registries don’t do much to curb sex offenses against children, because stranger danger is not the primary cause, or even a statistically significant one, when it comes to these crimes.

Author

• Emily Horowitz, St. Francis College